AFP, Nov. 2, 2016 – President Vladimir Putin has ordered a 10-hour truce on Friday in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo, the Russian defense ministry said.
“A decision was made to introduce a ‘humanitarian pause’ in Aleppo on November 4 from 9:00 am (0600 GMT) to 19:00,” the chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a statement on Wednesday.
Gerasimov said the decision was approved by Syrian authorities and was meant to “prevent senseless casualties” by allowing civilians and armed combatants to quit rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
He said eight corridors — six for civilians and two for fighters — could be used for this.
Rebels launched a major assault Friday to break the siege of Aleppo.
Aleppo has been hit by some of the worst violence in Syria’s five-year conflict, turning the once bustling economic hub into a divided and bombed-out city.
Defense ministry Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Russia had ceased air strikes on eastern Aleppo for 16 days, following criticism over a Russian-backed Syrian government assault that has killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed infrastructure, including hospitals.

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The halt in the bombing was initially declared ahead of a short ceasefire that ended last month. Moscow at the time ruled out a truce extension.
Shoigu accused the US-led coalition of failing to rein in hardline rebels and said that the chances of a political settlement to the crisis were now remote.
The West has accused Moscow of committing possible war crimes in Aleppo through indiscriminate bombing to support a brutal Syrian government offensive.
Moscow has been conducting a bombing campaign in Syria in support of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.
More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria’s war devolved from a widespread protest movement against Assad’s rule in March 2011 to a multi-front war between rebels, jihadists, Kurds and regime forces.